Real scare over fake guns in San Ramon

(KTVU) San Ramon - A tense situation played out in San Ramon when a woman called 911 about a gunman outside her home.

You can hear the fear and panic in her call to a San Ramon Valley emergency dispatcher. 

"There is someone outside of my home with a gun!"

She called 911 about 8:30 p.m. Thursday after seeing someone dressed all in black, wearing a ski mask and armed with a rifle.

"Hurry! Hurry!" she begged to the dispatcher

KTVU spoke to the woman off-camera. She says she saw a dark figure lurking on a path.

"All i saw was a large rifle. I knew nothing about guns ..but I didn't see any...I knew it wasn't a Nerf gun."

She added, "He was acting suspicious, crouching while he's walking near the bushes, with a large weapon."

Dispatchers relayed the call to officers. Police summoned a helicopter and paramedics. This happened just a day after an armed carjacking near Danville.

"Your adrenaline's going be pumping," said San Ramon police Officer Seaton Fajeau, who was among seven officers who responded that night. "Your situational awareness is going to be heightened."

The officers arrived and, at gunpoint, detained 4 boys, ages 12 to 14, armed with airsoft guns designed to look like real assault rifles.

"We've got four juveniles with airsoft rifles," an officer reported on the police radio.

No crime was committed, and they were released.

"Ultimately, the most important message is the kids in this case complied," Fajeau said.

The 911 caller said, "I felt really guilty for everyone involved. I would have been just heartbroken if that had led to anyone getting hurt or anyone hurting anyone else."

On its Facebook page, San Ramon police posted a picture of guns seized from a different incident. They challenged people to pick out the real guns from the fake ones.

"We realize we're not going to stop kids from playing with toy guns. It' s been going on for decades. Cops and robbers, whatever it was. I played it when I was a kid. So we know we're not going to stop that," said Lt. Denton Carlson. "The most important thing we can do is to educate families. "

In a couple of days, police say they'll update their Facebook page and reveal which guns from that picture were real, and which were fake. Either way, police say they only have a split second to react.